One aspect of writing is that pros do it for money. Are you fascinated as I am about the business end of being a writer? Consider a recent email I sent Ms Paul about the ups and down of having her used books sold on an un-named web site. She makes zero dollars on this sale.Mark Twain strongly advocated for the right of a writer to profit from his/her work. Will the internet undo this? Bad enough that libraries are eating away at profits... but now this? What do you think?

Hi, New Member Bob. How do you mean, will the Internet undo the writer's right to profit from her work? There have always been used book stores. Do you mean the Internet just makes second-hand copies even more available?

Writers do make something from a library sale, of course. If a writer has a copy or two of their book in each library, that's a nice quantity...even if it does reduced direct to the public sales.Used book shops had local clientele at one time. Now through the internet a small store can ship titles anywhere. Web site where they can list inventory broadens their base of customers.I just bought four of Barbara's older titles for a song and she did not profit from the sale at all... save when the books were originally bought.An internet purchase might be as problemsome as an MP3 file. Stephen King's attempt at selling an internet story did not provide a greater profit than it might have conventionally. He discontinued the effort. I am not sure how the "bugs" would be worked out of the system, but with paper that can only age over time... the best way to preserve text is as stored data.

Bob, one thing that needs to be remembered is that lots of used-book sales are of books that are no longer in print. I recently bought a used copy of "Good King Sauerkraut" which didn't make me feel weaselly because I can't get it new.

I don't know, either, if I think that library sales reduce general sales. People who buy books, buy them, and library readers, in my experience, are either not interested in owning them or can't afford to.

I used to go to the library a lot, but in recent years I can afford to buy more books, and so I do. (And do and do and do.)

The internet probably makes it easier to sell secondhand books, but I don't know if it's all THAT much worse than before. Then again, I'm not a published author. Barbara might disagree.

I've bought most of Barbara's books from the local second-hand shop, but that's because most of them I could only get second-hand, or would have had to pay a huge premium postage-wise to be able to buy new. I have a lot of other books that I bought second-hand because they were either out of print or horribly difficult to get hold of new. A few were even available new, but I wanted an older printing to match the covers on the rest of the set I already had.

Back when I was very young and didn't have much money, I couldn't afford to pay new prices for many books. I wouldn't risk that sort of money on an unfamiliar author. That's when I was *really* grateful for libraries and second-hand shops. It allowed me to explore and find new authors I liked, without having to risk a lot of money. I still do that. So as far as my purchasing's concerned, there are authors who have made sales of new books because I was able to get something of theirs from the library or second-hand.

I used to read library books and buy used copies...until my first book was published. Wow, does that change your perspective in a hurry. Don't ever tell a writer you read a library copy of her new book. Lie. Say you bought it.

Today I still buy the occasional used copy of a hard-to-find book that is clearly not going to be reprinted. But I buy as many new books as I can.

OK, tell me--are all the Marians still available new? I have GKS, I have (darn it, blanking on the title--the one with the Large Marge sting in it), and everything AFTER that, but I believe I'm missing some earlier ones, which I'd like to get my mitts on. (Just checked the main page and the two I'm missing are The Renewable Virgin and He Huffed and He Puffed.) (Off to look for them.) (Well, after work.)

One thing I do, similar to what Julia said, is try out new authors via secondhand book sales or paperbacks, but once I've decided I like you, I tend to buy hardback, at least in the last five years or so.

Well, I did buy King second-hand, but that's because I happened across a hardback in perfect condition, and as far as I knew the hardback edition was out of print.

However, I intend to make up for this misdemeanour now that I am living somewhere where I can actually get my hands on the books reasonably easily. Are any of the books still in print in hardback? Ideally on decent paper, not that horrible cheap stuff with ragged edges that US publishers seem to like to use in hardbacks nowadays. If I buy a hardback, it's because I want a book that's of *better* physical quality than a paperback, not worse. I was not impressed with the quality of the book production on the hardback of Fare Play